Does sending more emails mean more ROI?

Welcome to our new blog series all about deliverability. We’re looking at some of the most common myths around deliverability, debunking the myth, and exploring how to approach the actual reality of the subject behind the myth.

As you probably already know, email marketing is an incredibly strong channel in terms of ROI. No other messaging channel produces double digit ROI like email marketing does. Time and time again, email marketing has been proven as the most effective channel.

During a 2020 survey carried out among marketers worldwide, it was found that for every U.S. dollars invested in email marketing, brands earned 36 U.S. dollars. Among the presented industries, the ROI was highest in the retail, ecommerce, and consumer goods sector, with 45 dollars per one dollar spent. Not bad.

Unfortunately, though, things sometimes do get taken out of context and end up becoming one of the most common myths. In this case, the strong ROI produced by email has lead to the belief that “the more you send, the more ROI”. Whilst this is partially true, what’s missing here is that for campaigns to hit such a high ROI, they need to meet an underlying set of prerequisites first, and this is the important part that’s often left out.

Things to consider

The most important prerequisite is that your email needs to land in the inbox. No matter how many campaigns you send, if they don’t get delivered to the inbox, none of those messages will generate any revenue, so no ROI. And unfortunately, there’s no way to guarantee inbox placement, but paying attention to certain key elements will help increase the chances for the messages to end up in the inbox. Let’s explore those.

Sign-up process

The first one is to setup a strong sign-up process. Whilst single opt-in is tempting and lowers the hurdle, by making it is easier for people to subscribe, it actually brings more risk, especially in the mid to long term. In fact, as a sender your contact list should be your primary asset, and you should have reasonable safeguards in place to ensure that only legitimate addresses are added to your mailing list.

Content

The second one would be to send relevant and engaging content. In order to give the best chances for inbox placement for your messages, it’s important to understand how the filters work. Whilst filters apply hundreds of dynamic factors when determining where a message should go, the single biggest factor that determines if a message is wanted or not is user engagement. Undoubtedly, relevant and engaging content increases the possibility of positive engagement, which in turn leads to a higher possibility of inbox placement.

Segmentation

The third one is segmentation based on engagement. Closely tied to the previous point, by sending only to those who are willing to engage with your messages, this again proves to the mailbox providers that your messages are wanted, leading to higher chances of inbox placement. At the same time, we do understand the temptation that as a sender, you want to utilize your entire contact list where possible. But please keep in mind that at the end of the day, behind each of those addresses are human beings, and they all have their own reasons for when to engage with your messages.

Preference centers

Finally, setup a preference center and have a very easy unsubscribe functionality. Empowering each and every subscriber with control over both message content and message frequency will not only improve their experience, but also help retain engaging subscribers. As for the unsubscribe functionality, don’t treat it as a negative thing, but rather a sign of trust. This shows that they are trusting you to honor their request, as you never know, they may come back to you in the future. Plus an unsubscribe is always miles better than being blocked and/or being reported as spam.

Conclusion

To sum it up, sending more emails does equate to more ROI, but only when done with proper planning and strategy. And whilst it seems like a lot to consider, once the processes are in place, you will soon realize the benefits it brings. Essentially, sending to engaged subscribers is going to translate into more ROI.